When a ByteBuf is used in a ChannelPipeline, there are additional rules you need to keep in mind:
- Each inbound (a.k.a. upstream) handler in a pipeline has to release the received messages. Netty does not release them automatically for you.
- Note that codec framework does release the messages automatically and a user has to increase the reference count if he or she wants to pass a message as-is to the next handler.
- When an outbound (a.k.a. downstream) message reaches at the beginning of the pipeline, Netty will release it after writing it out.